Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the presentation. I confess I was one of those at Carnsore who objected to a nuclear power station there. I take the point about climate change and admit that since I was in Carnsore much has happened that has changed the world significantly. I am concerned about how we would sell this proposition to the people. The witnesses said they had won public debates. I confess I have not seen or heard anything about nuclear power for a long time, except for the news about the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in England which is coming on stream. I was struck by public opinion in a programme I saw. The people who live in the environs of Hinkley Point are very happy. I was struck by that because we are coming to a stage at which all our community halls are being filled with 800 or 900 people saying they do not want pylons anywhere near them. I am not sure how I would sell nuclear power to them at the moment. It seems that nuclear power has huge benefits on one side of the equation, but how do we balance that with the other side of the equation - how we deal with the waste? How has technology for dealing with the waste progressed? The global disasters that have taken place are not about the energy we get from nuclear power but about the waste. Has that issue progressed in any way?